


Grief

by DuaeCat



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 03:50:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15088376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DuaeCat/pseuds/DuaeCat
Summary: Ahsoka's fate is in her former Master's hands.





	Grief

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AceQueenKing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceQueenKing/gifts).



_Denial_

 

Darth Vader entered the cell holding the prisoner. It had taken the coordinated work of several of his best Inquisitors, and most of them hadn’t come back from the attempt, but one of the rogue Jedi had been found and brought to him. He would be responsible for overseeing them being transferred to his Master, or to carry out his Master’s orders.

She was still unconscious, bound in stuncuffs, and Vader stood over her without making any move to touch her. His padawan’s lekku had been short, barely past her shoulders and covering the back of her neck, this woman’s stretched to her waist. His padawan’s montrals had been short, beginning to form distinctive peaks and this woman’s montrals jutted up in strong horns. The markings could be coincidence, and he found himself reaching to touch over the stroke of white on one cheek before he stopped himself, the gloved mechanical hand falling short, and then clenching into a fist.

She couldn’t be Ahsoka, Ahsoka was gone, his Inquisitors had found some other Force Sensitive togruta who bore a remarkable resemblance to his old apprentice, that was all.

Vader turned and left, the door locking behind him, to report to his Master, even if something deep inside him knew the truth.

 

* * *

 

_Anger_

 

“I believe you have earned the right to deal with her as you wish.” Darth Sideous’ voice was smooth, sounding almost amused, and the blue glow of the holo lit the room with a cold light.

“Yes, my Lord.” Vader kept his head bowed, and he knew better than to take things at face value. This was no doubt a test, as if he hadn’t proved his loyalty a thousand times over.

“Good, I have faith in you, don’t disappoint me,” Sideous said, ending the transmission abruptly.

Behind the mask, Vader snarled silently. This would be nothing, she had abandoned him when he needed her, she had walked away. She had been one of the first to betray him, and he would make her pay for that a thousand times over. She deserved it.

 

* * *

 

_Bargaining_

 

“Join me,” Vader said, standing outside the energy door this time. She was awake now, but reports said she had yet to speak, kneeling in her cell with her head down and her eyes closed. One of the human guards had laughed, said she had already given up. Vader had punished him for his foolishness, anyone with half a mind could see she was meditating, waiting, planning.

For a long moment she didn’t respond and he felt his temper fray at her insolence, as well as an echo of pain he thought he was long past feeling. Then she looked up, eyes opening and too blue and too calm and he felt his fists tighten.

“No.” Spoken softly, but it was _her_  voice and it ripped open something in him and he hated her for it.

“If you do not, I will be forced to kill you,” Vader kept his voice steady, it was too easy with the way the helmet distorted it.

“You could choose not to,” Ahsoka said quietly, but there was emotion behind the words now, pleading and hopeful. “I know who you are.”

Vader didn’t reply, watching as she stared at his mask, studying it as thought she could glean something from it’s impassive features.

“Or maybe you couldn’t. Are you more of a prisoner than I am?” Ahsoka asked and Vader tensed.

“You have a day to change your mind. It is a far more generous offer than most are allowed. Do not waste it,” Vader spoke, turning with a swirl of his cape and feeling that piercing gaze following him long after he knew he’d walked out of sight.

 

* * *

 

_Depression_

 

Twenty four hours stretched into forty eight, and then into a week. Always there were excuses to be made, reasons dealing with the prisoner was of less importance than all the other tasks he needed to do. It wasn’t that he was avoiding her. He wished he could hate her, somehow all the rage had faded leaving exhaustion in its wake. There wasn’t anything peaceful about it, just numbness that robbed him of his focus and moments of rage that sputtered out ineffectively. He wished she had never been found. He wished...

 

* * *

 

_Acceptance_

 

Ahsoka looked much the same as she had the second time he saw her. She knelt and there was a sense of calm in the cell that felt horribly out of place, that somehow resonated with the empty ache inside him in a way Vader couldn’t stand. He didn’t let it stop him this time and he turned off the door to the cell, striding inside and gripping her by the front of the prisoner’s tunic, hauling her to her feet.

“Come with me,” Vader ordered, harsh and feeling like he was balancing on the edge. One word of refusal and he’d kill her.

She followed.

He led her to the ship’s hangar, there were the official ships, but there were also a few smaller ones that had been captured, general smuggler’s junk. They were useful when one of his Inquisitors needed to go out and not be noticed. He had already loaded her armor and lightsabers into one of them, not the best but not the worst. With a gesture he unlocked the stuncuffs and they clattered onto the floor with a startlingly loud sound.

“If you get found again there will be no second chances. You’ll be killed on sight.”

Ahsoka rubbed her wrists, looking between him and the ship. “I don’t want to leave you again.”

“You don’t have a choice,” Vader said, neither of them did, not really. When Darth Sideous found out he’d be furious and there would be pain. It would be worth it to know he’d made one choice on his own.

“But you do. Come with me, Master. We can leave together,” Ahsoka spoke so gently he thought his heart would break, reaching out to take one of his gloves and squeezing so tight it almost felt like he remembered.

He hesitated. And then he made his decision.


End file.
